The Ten Airlines You Hate The Most

I'm not a Delta fanboy by any means, and I'm sure they've screwed their fair share of passengers, but I think they genuinely do the best job out of the majors. Seems like United should have made that list at least twice.
 
Really, how old is this article? I know that it says today, but America West? Post 9/11 Delta stories with a picture of MSP? I mean c'mon man!

Yawn....
 
Allegiant at #3? Ive always had a great experience with them. Surprised United didnt make the list.
 
Airlines are such an easy target, something people always love to hate on. Its like complaining about Rush hour traffic or the weather.
 
I'm not a Delta fanboy by any means, and I'm sure they've screwed their fair share of passengers, but I think they genuinely do the best job out of the majors. Seems like United should have made that list at least twice.

I would agree with this. And United is definitely a complete trainwreck.
 
Allegiant at #3? Ive always had a great experience with them. Surprised United didnt make the list.
Pull up flight aware and I can almost assure you any given flight has a 4+ hour delay in its recent displayable history. My LAS-SCK flight after EDC in June was delayed 5+ hours, and every single person from the check-in counter, to the gate agents, to the captain, to the F/A's had a different reason as to why. Not to mention the scariest landing I've ever had in a commercial airliner on that flight, nothing like smelling burning rubber the whole way to the gate. Sheesh. And their policies are so ghetto in these circumstances, Honolulu was about ready to kick Allegiant out when it would delay flights over days and not re-book people rather than cancel the flight. You get what you pay for, I guess.

United is far from the most reliable major, but they've gotten a lot better. Still, I've seen some things, man.

US Airways mainline isn't that bad, but a quick browse through my flightmemory.com shows 9 of my 17 Us Airways Express Mesa flights, all on -900s, were delayed 2+ hours. 2 were delayed 5+ hours. Mx delays everytime. No wonder they're having Skywest bring -900s on property. They seem to be the worst regional in my experience.

Delta, I would say, has the best mainline and connection product most of the time. Don't understand all the hate. When I was at Skyweezy, the difference in ops between DL and UA coded flights was night and day. Delta knows their stuff.
 
Delta has always been good to me. Its my choice carrier over anything that flies out of LAS. Ive had far worse experiences on jetBlue.
 
1.) US Airways
2-9.) Anyone with a CRJ
10) Southwest

I'm a bitter, angry man, but I'm also right.
2-9 are spot on, and while I don't think I've ever paid for a ticket on US or Southwest, they have always treated me great when looking for a ride, but I'm pretty grateful for free rides.
 
lol the Cubana picture reminds me of my numerous transit flights on the mighty C-2. I still remember my first flight to the carrier, I was in the squadron for about a week before hand then thrown on a boat det to get afloat qualified. First time I seen the AC I freaked and told the dude sitting next to me that the A/C was smoking from the floorboards, pretty funny looking back on it I guess...
 
Us Airways is absolutely the worst for me, CLT has been marginal but PHL is absolute joke of a hub. Rudest staff I've ever encountered in any large company never mind an airline. Constantly waking me up on every flight with their credit card dribble and heckling of drinks. Having an hour wait for bags, just a joke.

Delta has been really the bang up job out of the lot. SWA intra texas has been just fine for me aside from the rocket ship descents into lubbock at vne with spoilers out for 10 mins but hey we got there quick.
 
My wife and I have personally had really bad experiences with both Delta and United. Not by the flight and cabin crews, but by everyone else. My wife got stranded in MSP for a day on her way to see a friend for a weekend. Burned up about 18 hours. She was left high and dry at the airport with no vouchers for food or drink. All because they let her connecting flight leave the gate 10 minutes prior to the published time. Thank you, Delta, for stranding my wife.

United put us over a barrel with an early departure, too. I was up in Syracuse visiting relatives. The morning of our afternoon departure day, I went online to check in. The system would not let me, and gave me some very generic error. Tried and tried, and received a few different errors, none of which told me a thing. So I called customer service. Boy howdy... was that fun. 10 minutes of listening to crap hold music and the reminder that my call was oh so very important to them. Finally get a CSR on the line (pet peeve: when I enter just about every bit of personal information into the phone's keypad, including my flight number, reservation number, last four of my SSN, phone number, etc., why in the WORLD do I need to repeat all of that crap to the CSR??? WTF is the point?). This gal was a winner. After reconfirming all of my personal information that I've already entered, the conversation goes something very much like this:

CSR: "Ah. Yes. Your flight is departing in 30 minutes. You can't do an online check-in less than an hour prior to departure."
Me: "Wait... 30 minutes? That flight is supposed to depart at 4:30!"
CSR: "Well, looks like it's been moved back to 12:30. So, you can't check in less that an hour from departure."
Me: "What?? That's four hours early! How was I supposed to know that? Why did it get moved so early?"
CSR: "I'm not sure, sir. But, the flight depart in 30 minutes. Should be boarding soon. Anything else I can help you with?"
Me: "Um... yes! I'm still at my hotel... we aren't even PACKED yet!"
CSR: "Can you make it to the airport in time?"
Me... nearly shaking in rage at this point, but still relatively controlled on the phone: "Can I make it to the... didn't you just hear me say that we are still at the hotel and not packed yet?"
CSR: "Well, I'm sorry sir. The flight leaves in 30 minutes. Is there anything else I can do for you?"
Me, now becoming pretty upset at the CSR: "Yes, yes there is. You can book my wife and I on another flight. You guys moved the departure time far earlier than planned without any sort of notification or indication that you would do that, there is no way we can even get out of the hotel before the plane leaves the gate... you need to rebook us."
CSR: "Ok, sir. Please hold."

Literally 20 minutes later, CSR finally comes back: "Sir, still looking for a flight for you. Be right back."
5 minutes pass.
"Sir, I've rebooked you for the next United flight out of Syracuse, departing tomorrow morning at 8:00am."
Me: "Whoa whoa whoa... I'm sorry, that is not acceptable. My wife and I need to be at work tomorrow."
CSR: "Sorry sir, that is the earliest we can get you out."
Me, now really, really not happy: "Are you guys going to cover my hotel tonight?"
CSR: "Sorry sir... we can't do that."
Me: "Yeah. Ok... this is ridiculous. We need to be home... tonight. Did you check availability on other airlines?"
CSR: "No, sir."

Literally a 10 second pregnant pause while I wait for the CSR to offer to do just that.

Me: "... could... you... check... ?"
CSR: "Oh. Sure. Just a moment, sir."

Amazingly, another 15 minutes pass before she comes back:
CSR: "Sir, I found a Continental flight departing at 4:00pm. Would you like me to book that?"
Me, amazed that she did not check space availability on the airline United had purchased a few months prior to this incident: "Yes."

And so on. Most frustrating customer service experience I have ever encountered. I've not flown United since. Have no plans to do so any time in the near or far future. I weep for the loss of Continental, as I had nothing but good experiences with them.
 
(conversation with clueless UA phone rep)
Wow. Ok. As someone with a good understanding of this stuff:
-You may push 10 minutes early, IF all checked-in pax are on board and the headcount and bag count is cleared well ahead of time, as 10 minutes early would be "doors closing" time at most carriers in most cases. Most gate agents I knew of, including myself, would only close the doors early if every seat and the jumpseat was full. It is very common to get pax connecting off other airlines, boarding pass in hand, unaware they aren't checked in, jumpseaters/non-revs running to catch their commute, frequent flyers running up to catch an earlier flight, late bags showing up, ect. Huge diservice to close the doors early with pax checked in and not boarded. In fact, this is supposed to be treated as denied boarding. I did it once due to a miscommunication, and the pax got a huge applogy, a $600 travel credit, and a seat on the next flight, despite it being oversold already. Your wife should have wrote to the DOT with proof she was checked in.

-United, and most carriers, does tweak schedules when they have to. But as many pax book up to a year early, they have to make every reasonable attempt to contact you(e-mail, phone call, ect). If you have not been contacted by the carrier, and put in your situation, this should be treated as denied boarding. Putting you on the next "United" flight is not enough, they should have re-booked you on Us Airways or even a carrier outside the alliance at that point. I remember when ACV was closed for runway construction for 3 days, but they had sold tickets in advance before deciding not to operate the flights. It was astonishing how many pax were checked in at another airport like BOS, flown to SFO, and only then wander over to customer service asking why no flights to Eureka are on the board, with a boarding pass in hand. I swear a good 60% of that airline's frontline staff don't care at all and just like to "pass the problem" around like a hot potato until someone is forced to address it.

Sorry you had to go through that, stories like yours are why I could never be a gate agent again. Co-workers like those and the hatred you attract for doing a good job from the "lifers".
 
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It's funny that the vast majority of negative experiences at airlines come from customer service. The folks making things happen in the air, both in the cabin and in the front office? Almost always the greatest folks to deal with. Treat the cabin crew right, and they do their best to make the cattle car experience not as bad as it could be. Hard to have any interaction with the flight crew these days any more, but the few times I have recently, it's always been pleasant. Then you step off the jetway and the first thing you see is an embattled and bitter gate agent.
 
It's funny that the vast majority of negative experiences at airlines come from customer service. The folks making things happen in the air, both in the cabin and in the front office? Almost always the greatest folks to deal with. Treat the cabin crew right, and they do their best to make the cattle car experience not as bad as it could be. Hard to have any interaction with the flight crew these days any more, but the few times I have recently, it's always been pleasant. Then you step off the jetway and the first thing you see is an embattled and bitter gate agent.
I agree.

However...once people board the plane, except in extreme situations, they're content and going where they want to go, delayed or not, they made it on board. Gate agents have to deal with the people too stupid to get that far in their journey. Its easy for many of us to blame the gate agents for their nasty attitudes and say "Back in the day...", but then again, "Back in the day", people couldn't wake up in their unfurnished run down apartment, throw on some pajamas that are 2 sizes too small, pop a pill or two(you're kidding yourself if you don't think at least some pax are on drugs of some kind on any given LCC flight), find a ticket they can afford on fixed income, then show up for their 7:45PM flight at 7:43PM to check in and explode on the check-in agent about having to be "hella early". However, today, people would have never, ever, ever have flown before can afford to do it. And that's not always a good thing. I hear tons of complaints about ATL customer service with both Delta and AirTran, and while I'm sure its all true and the agents are rude as can be, spending time eating lunch at the AirTran gates at SFO makes me understand how they could get that way. Its sad air travel has become this way, but honestly, the way things are today I'd say the rude gate agents will last forever where as all the good ones will either work their way out of the front line or quit. I know I could never go back.

Still...airlines need to do something that addresses both these issues. Would a code of conduct be that out of line for an airline to make pax agree to when they're paying next to nothing for the ticket all things considered?
 
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